Burn victims fill Dhaka hospitals as attacks continue against those who defy a transportation blockade
May 4, 2015 5:00AM ET
by Axel Kronholm
Khokon, 30, recovers in the burn unit of a Dhaka hospital
Khokon, a shoe salesman, was seriously burned during an attack on a bus in Dhaka last January.
DHAKA, Bangladesh — “When I woke up, my face was on fire,” said Khokon, a 30-year-old man who sells plastic shoes in a small shop in Dhaka, the capital. He was napping on a bus on his way home in late January when the attack happened. Molotov cocktails were hurled at the vehicle, and nine passengers were killed.

“Everybody was screaming and trying to get out. I fell down on the floor, and people were stepping on me,” he said.

His face and hands suffered the worst burns. His left hand is missing two fingers; they were amputated after becoming infected. The doctors aren’t yet sure how bad the damage is to his right eye. Khokon has been told an eye specialist will look at it once the burns have healed.

“Our mother fainted when she saw him,” said his sister Selma, who keeps him company in the hospital.

He has a 1-year-old daughter, and he is worried about how he will be able to provide for his family now. According to local human rights organizations, he is one of about 2,000 people in Bangladesh who have been injured in similar attacks since the beginning of the year. At least 100 have died. On March 25, two patients in the same ward as Khokon died from their burns.

Political violence is not a new phenomenon in Bangladesh. This latest surge in deadly attacks started in early January, when the opposition was barred from holding a demonstration against last year’s elections, which it claims were illegitimate.

In 2014 the opposition demanded that the ruling Awami League hand over power to a neutral interim government that would oversee the elections to avoid fraud. When the government refused, the opposition, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, boycotted the elections. Out of 300 parliamentary seats, 154 were uncontested.

The opposition was left with no influence in Parliament. A year later, this January, when the government barred it from holding protests and put party leader Khaleda Zia under house arrest, the opposition responded by imposing general strikes and a nationwide blockade of roads and transport routes.

In an attempt to enforce it, alleged opposition activists and hired thugs started throwing Molotov cocktails at vehicles that broke the blockade.

The body of an auto rickshaw driver killed by a opposition-led violence lies in a Dhaka hospital
Auto rickshaw driver Mozammel was killed by a Molotov cocktail thrown by opposition party activists in Dhaka during a 72-hour nationwide strike in November 2013.A.M. Ahad / AP
Khokon, like most of the other people being treated at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, has never been involved in politics and does not have any stake in the rivalry between the country’s two main parties.

In a bed next to him lay 19-year-old Niranjon, who was admitted the same day as Khokon and was working as a helper on a truck that was attacked.

“I couldn’t see who threw the bomb because it was dark,” Niranjon said. “I jumped out of the truck, and people came up to me and hugged me to put the flames out.”

A sign over his bed says burns cover 42 percent of his body.

“I can’t sleep at night. As soon as I close my eyes, the images of the attack come back to me. On top of that, most of my body itches and burns constantly.”

As he spoke, his father entered the room with a bag of fruit. He sleeps on a small blanket on the floor next to his son’s bed in order to be close to him. “He’s my only son. His mother, my wife, died when he was 10 years old. It’s just me and him now,” his father said, tears rolling down his cheeks.

“When I heard what had happened to my son, I dropped everything I was doing and rushed out of my home without even locking the door,” he continued. “We are common people, and we don’t like this kind of politics. What does this have to do with us?”

It is civilians who suffer most from the ongoing political violence, says Sultana Kamal, the head of the Bangladesh human rights organization Ain o Salish Kendra, or ASK. “Many people have died because of these kinds of bombs and arson attacks. But to deal with this, the government is also taking very extreme measures.” she said.

According to figures compiled by ASK, at least 64 people have been killed by law enforcement since January, in what Kamal describes as “extrajudicial killings.”

“These are only the deaths we know about. Usually they go unreported,” she added.

In this violent and polarized environment, it can be hard to predict the consequences of reporting on politically charged crimes.

“The government is touchy about a lot of things and can react sharply to any kind of dissent. But you can also get in trouble if you criticize the opposition and [its supporters’] violent means. The minute you do that, you become a target for them,” Kamal said.

Mamunur Rashid, 48, a truck helper in the burn ward of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, March 2015.
Mamunur Rashid, 48, a truck helper in the burn ward of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, March 2015. Axel Kronholm
The corridors of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, lit by cold fluorescent lights, are crowded with beds. This is where most burn victims are taken. The nurses have no time to talk.

In a room down the hall from Khokon and Niranjon, Shazu Mia, 30, sat up in his bed. He owns a small furniture shop and was transporting goods to his store when the truck he was driving was attacked. He said he bought the furniture on credit. “Everything was destroyed. Now I have people hassling me for the money I owe them. But I can’t make any money while I’m in here,” he said.

His hands are badly burned, so his wife stepped in with a napkin to wipe the tears running down his face.

“That store was all I had. Now I don’t know what will happen,” Mia continued. “That store was my family’s future. I have a daughter who is really smart and talented, and we had hoped that we would be able to send her to medical school. But now, I don’t know how we will manage that. I’m so sad for her.”

In a bed opposite Mia was Mamunur Rashid, 48, a truck helper. He and his colleagues were transporting betel leaves early one morning in February when their truck was torched. His three colleagues died in the hospital, but he survived with a fourth of his body burned.

“Once I got out of the truck, I tried to find help, but it was so early in the morning that nobody was out. I had to walk for about half an hour before I found someone who could take us to the hospital,” he said.

“Of course we knew that there was a blockade and that these attacks happened, but I’m a day laborer. I need to work to put food on the table. I can’t afford to respect any blockade,” he continued.

“My four children have been very worried and shocked by this whole thing,” he said. “I’m doing all right myself. The doctors have told me I will be able to continue working once I get out of here, and the trauma from the event is getting better. The nightmares are not as bad anymore.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firdousi

Never talk with Afghans about politics. All their political knowledge is limited to conspiracy theories, political demonization and contradictions. No logic, no reason.

During the past few months, the House of Commons' Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Human Rights has heard testimony about the disturbing human rights violations occurring in Bangladesh. Witnesses have testified that ethnic minorities, particularly the indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, are subject to severe discrimination by the Islamist government and the military. Most troubling is that the world at large continues to ignore these issues. Indeed, few media outlets have mentioned the abuses that minorities in Bangladesh have endured since the country won its independence from Pakistan in 1971.

Many countries provide aid to the Bangladeshi government, which in turn uses these funds to retain essential military backing; Canada alone supplied $82 million in 2011-2012. In this respect, Canada has leverage to influence the government in Dhaka, which is dependent on foreign aid, to curb human rights violations and end the culture of impunity that enables them.

The main issue brought up by human rights organizations, and at the Subcommittee by Kirit Sinha Roy and Dr. Anuradha Bose of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council's (BHBCUC), is the treatment of ethnic minority groups, particularly Hindus, as second-class citizens. In 1988, Bangladesh's constitution was revised to make Islam the state religion, though the government still identifies as secular. Of the country's 156,000,000 people, almost 90 per cent are Muslim, 9.7 per cent are Hindu, and Buddhists and Christians only make up 0.7 per cent and 0.3 per cent of the population, respectively.

Our subcommittee has heard that members of these groups experience near-daily violence. In particular, many have been driven off their land so that it can be stolen using the Vested Property Law, which allows individuals to claim land as their own if it has been "abandoned." More disturbing is the forced conversion of Hindus to Islam, which, in the case of many women, is preceded by their abduction and rape in order to force them to marry the men responsible. Other attacks have been more political in nature, with supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), who tend to perceive Hindus as being staunch supporters of the ruling Awami League, sometimes attacking them during elections to prevent them from voting.

Virtually nobody has been held accountable for any of these incidents; indeed, the culture of impunity has proven to be so pervasive that these victims are often further mistreated by the police. This systemic discrimination has led to a mass exodus of Bangladesh's religious minorities, with those possessing the financial means often fleeing to neighbouring India or overseas.

Discrimination is particularly brutal against the indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region, who have suffered horrific human rights violations at the hands of Bangladeshi settlers and the military forces supporting them. The region was at the centre of a massive insurgency triggered by indigenous calls for the government to recognize the CHT's autonomy. The insurgency proved to be both prolonged and bloody. It lasted for 20 years (1977-1997), and the government's campaign was characterized by Amnesty International and other rights organizations as a series of atrocities, including "massacres, arbitrary detention, torture, and extrajudicial executions."

A peace agreement signed in 1997 was meant to end the conflict; however, it appears that the settlers have continued the abuses of the government without any repercussions. Indeed, Dr. Aditya Dewan, President of the International Council for Indigenous Peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, testified that the Bangladeshi government has systematically removed mentions of indigenous peoples from official documents in order to deny their unique status.

Much like other minorities, aboriginals are at risk of being driven from their land so that it can be effectively stolen by settlers, with 642 homes being burnt towards this end between 2009 and 2011 alone. Even peaceful protests are met with deadly force by the soldiers and armed settlers policing the region, and the civil rights of the region's native peoples are either curtailed or suppressed. There appears to be a systematic campaign underway to gradually replace the indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts with settlers by whatever means it deems necessary, regardless of the cost in human lives.

Because Canada is an aid donor to Bangladesh, it must take action to end the ongoing human rights violations against religious minorities and indigenous peoples. We can pressure Bangladesh to take action to end human rights violations and the culture of impunity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firdousi

Never talk with Afghans about politics. All their political knowledge is limited to conspiracy theories, political demonization and contradictions. No logic, no reason.

InshAllah,mark my words,One day the people of bangladesh will be free from the foreign sponsored hasina govt

People like @asad71 has fought for the independence of Bangladesh and they want a true representative govt of their own people

Insh Allah! Allah willing.

1.We had received the Message in the original form during the lifetime of the Holy Prophet PBUH. And ever since we have preserved, protected and nurtured this. There is no sectarian divide among Bengali Muslims. Receiving direct by sea route our format has not been influenced or colored by intervening cultures. And receiving early has ensured that the passage of time hasn't tainted this.
2. And from a spec of Arab/semi Arab trader community we have kep on increasing. Today we are 200 mlln in BD ( officially 160) but thee are as many in surrounding W Bengal, Assam, Indian NE and even S Nepal. We are conscious of this fact and we are internally strong as a people.

1.We had received the Message in the original form during the lifetime of the Holy Prophet PBUH. And ever since we have preserved, protected and nurtured this. There is no sectarian divide among Bengali Muslims. Receiving direct by sea route our format has not been influenced or colored by intervening cultures. And receiving early has ensured that the passage of time hasn't tainted this.
2. And from a spec of Arab/semi Arab trader community we have kep on increasing. Today we are 200 mlln in BD ( officially 160) but thee are as many in surrounding W Bengal, Assam, Indian NE and even S Nepal. We are conscious of this fact and we are internally strong as a people.

During the past few months, the House of Commons' Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Human Rights has heard testimony about the disturbing human rights violations occurring in Bangladesh. Witnesses have testified that ethnic minorities, particularly the indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, are subject to severe discrimination by the Islamist government and the military. Most troubling is that the world at large continues to ignore these issues. Indeed, few media outlets have mentioned the abuses that minorities in Bangladesh have endured since the country won its independence from Pakistan in 1971.

Many countries provide aid to the Bangladeshi government, which in turn uses these funds to retain essential military backing; Canada alone supplied $82 million in 2011-2012. In this respect, Canada has leverage to influence the government in Dhaka, which is dependent on foreign aid, to curb human rights violations and end the culture of impunity that enables them.

The main issue brought up by human rights organizations, and at the Subcommittee by Kirit Sinha Roy and Dr. Anuradha Bose of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council's (BHBCUC), is the treatment of ethnic minority groups, particularly Hindus, as second-class citizens. In 1988, Bangladesh's constitution was revised to make Islam the state religion, though the government still identifies as secular. Of the country's 156,000,000 people, almost 90 per cent are Muslim, 9.7 per cent are Hindu, and Buddhists and Christians only make up 0.7 per cent and 0.3 per cent of the population, respectively.

Our subcommittee has heard that members of these groups experience near-daily violence. In particular, many have been driven off their land so that it can be stolen using the Vested Property Law, which allows individuals to claim land as their own if it has been "abandoned." More disturbing is the forced conversion of Hindus to Islam, which, in the case of many women, is preceded by their abduction and rape in order to force them to marry the men responsible. Other attacks have been more political in nature, with supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), who tend to perceive Hindus as being staunch supporters of the ruling Awami League, sometimes attacking them during elections to prevent them from voting.

Virtually nobody has been held accountable for any of these incidents; indeed, the culture of impunity has proven to be so pervasive that these victims are often further mistreated by the police. This systemic discrimination has led to a mass exodus of Bangladesh's religious minorities, with those possessing the financial means often fleeing to neighbouring India or overseas.

Discrimination is particularly brutal against the indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region, who have suffered horrific human rights violations at the hands of Bangladeshi settlers and the military forces supporting them. The region was at the centre of a massive insurgency triggered by indigenous calls for the government to recognize the CHT's autonomy. The insurgency proved to be both prolonged and bloody. It lasted for 20 years (1977-1997), and the government's campaign was characterized by Amnesty International and other rights organizations as a series of atrocities, including "massacres, arbitrary detention, torture, and extrajudicial executions."

A peace agreement signed in 1997 was meant to end the conflict; however, it appears that the settlers have continued the abuses of the government without any repercussions. Indeed, Dr. Aditya Dewan, President of the International Council for Indigenous Peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, testified that the Bangladeshi government has systematically removed mentions of indigenous peoples from official documents in order to deny their unique status.

Much like other minorities, aboriginals are at risk of being driven from their land so that it can be effectively stolen by settlers, with 642 homes being burnt towards this end between 2009 and 2011 alone. Even peaceful protests are met with deadly force by the soldiers and armed settlers policing the region, and the civil rights of the region's native peoples are either curtailed or suppressed. There appears to be a systematic campaign underway to gradually replace the indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts with settlers by whatever means it deems necessary, regardless of the cost in human lives.

Because Canada is an aid donor to Bangladesh, it must take action to end the ongoing human rights violations against religious minorities and indigenous peoples. We can pressure Bangladesh to take action to end human rights violations and the culture of impunity.

1. Canada hardly qualifies to make such allegation. She is a colony and a peculiar one at that - the sovereign lives in England and the boss in Washington DC. I want to ask them to release all those indigenous Indian people they keep locked up in zoos called Reservations. If the White Man Canadian is really concerned about HR then he should jump into the Atlantic to try and swim to wherever he came from.

2. And Canadian aid/credit? We don't need them. The Canadians do - to keep their factories running. And in the bargain both BD and Canadian politicians and bureaucrats make some money.

3. The reality is that the CHT people enjoy huge quota benefit in education and employment. As a Govt servant I myself had lobbied for and obtained total income tax freedom for them. What happens on ground is that the Chakmas being the predominant community usurp most of the benefits. That's how the Chakmas today are a community far better off than plainland Bengalis in education and employment. There are doctors, engineers, artists, professors and even some army generals from this group.

4. Kirit Sinha Roy and Dr. Anuradha Bose of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council's (BHBCUC), etc are a group financed and patronized by Indian Intel. Their objective is to firstly secede this area from BD and join India, and sow the seeds for eventual engulfing entire Muslim BD into Hindu India.